Docomomo International wishes to convey the most sincere condolences at the passing of the irreverent and creative Portuguese artist, Júlio Pomar, to his family and friends.

Júlio PomarBorn in Lisbon 1926, he attended the António Arroio School and the Lisbon School of Fine Arts, which he latter exchanged in 1944 to Porto. It is in the framework of political militancy that he participates in the adventure of neorealism, a movement committed to social transformation and the struggle against dictatorship (reason why he is arrested in 1947) whose aesthetic models are most evidently based on the Mexican muralism of Orozco and Siqueiros, or on the regionalism of American Thomas Hart Benton, rather than in Soviet socialist realism.

Julio Pomar expressed himself representing innumerable themes - the people of their time, mythological figures, events, stories and their writers, ideas, bodies. He painted with humour, acuity and diversity, and contributed to the configuration of the Portuguese visual imaginary of the second half of century XX. Pomar shared his thoughts along with his art, which was not limited in painting only. His production embraced also areas such as drawing, engraving illustration, ceramics, sculpture and even “assemblage”, and many foundations, museums and young artists have shown until now interest on his work. In 1993 he was awarded the AICA prize; in 2000, the Celpa / Vieira da Silva award and, in 2003, the Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso Grand Prix, distinguished for the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit; the Order of Freedom in 2004. France made him knight of the arts and letters in the same year.

Through a retrospective glance at this life and work, it is now possible to recognize how Julio Pomar remained faithful to a true identity, loyal to himself and his beliefs, and how his production revealed itself as relevant during so many years, since he first presented as an artist, always very diversified but yet strongly consistent.

The funeral ceremonies will take place on Teatro Thalia Rua das Laranjeiras, 205, Lisbon, during the 23rd May.